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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Over at Olive Tree Genealogy blog is a Genealogy Writing Challenge. It's 52 weeks of writing your own memoirs. Lorine will be posting a weekly prompt each Sunday on Olive Tree Genealogy blog under the topic Sharing Memories

Monday, January 27, 2014

Frederick Purdue (1827-1921) was my 3rd great-grandfather. According to his obituary and some family stories he was quite a colourful character. I've tried to confirm the stories told in his obit but so far no luck. The Bluecoat School has no record of him being a student and I have not been able to find out anything about his sailing days or his adventures during the Fenian Raids. Were the stories true? I don't know but I hope so! What an exciting ancestor to have if the stories are true. His obituary reads

An
interesting personality passed away on Monday evening at the advanced
age of 94 years, at his home 94 Seaton St., in the person of Frederick
Purdue, who in his early days, had a somewhat adventurous career on the
sea. The deceased gentleman, who was born at Andover in the County of
Hants England, in the year 1826, and received his education at the
famous Bluecoat School, the pupils of which until quite recently wore a
uniform consisting of a long blue coat reaching almost to the ankles,
yellow stockings, and buckled shoes. No matter what the weather, they
never wore headgear of any kind. On September 23 1845 Mr. Purdue
registered in London as a mariner, and spent a portion of his life at
sea in chasing slave vessels.He
came to Canada about 65 years ago, located in Prescott, where he
married Margaret Cowan. He was subsequently transferred by the G.T.R.
[Grand Trunk Railway], in whose employ he was, to Montreal, and
afterwards to St. Mary's Ontario, where most of his family were born. He
served with the Railway Company for a period of 52 years, being
Relieving Agent at several G.T.R. stations in Canada and also across the
border. He was quite active during the Fenian Raid, and could tell many interesting incidents connected with his career.

Another cool story about Frederick is that he worked with Thomas Edison at the Stratford Junction Railway Station in St. Marys Ontario. As most people know Thomas Edison was the inventor of many things including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. I know from historical records that Frederick did work at the Stratford Junction Station at around the same time as Thomas Edison. And Frederick himself claimed to know Edison. However as to what relationship they may have had who can tell.When I was a child I had the opportunity to speak on several occasions with someone who had first hand knowledge of Frederick. And while it was not said in so many words I got the distinct impression that old Frederick was perhaps a bit of a character. One story that stands out in my mind is how every morning Frederick would walk from his house the short distance to a local park in order to do his exercises in full public view. This may not sound strange today but in the late 1800s or early 1900s this was a rather odd thing for a man to do. So who knows was Frederick just an old guy who was good at telling tales. Or was he a man who had a long and interesting life. Perhaps more research will tell.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Over at Olive Tree Genealogy blog there is a Genealogy Writing Challenge. It's 52 weeks of writing your own memoirs. Lorine will be posting a weekly prompt each Sunday on Olive Tree Genealogy blog under the topic Sharing Memories. I've joined in and today's post is about learning to drive.

At age 16 I went to Ray's Driving School and learned to drive. Most kids in town went there. Mind you I'd already been driving a truck for many years on my grandparents' farm where I stayed every summer. It was a brown 1974 Ford F150.

Having the experience of driving on the farm coupled with going to Driving School made getting my licence pretty easy. I also live in a small town and I think that helped. However there was one strange incident that could probably only happen in a small town. I wasn't the only student in the car when I took my driver's test!

As the instructor and I were heading to the car he asked me if I minded if another student came with us. Of course I said I didn't care. It was a little old lady! She was in her 80s and was there for her renewal and I guess the instructor was in a hurry and thought it would make life easier if he could take us both.

So she sat in the back seat while I drove for my test, then we switched and I sat in the back seat while she drove. I felt bad for her because she failed!

None of that compares to my grandfather's driving test around 1930. His test was him and the instructor (who he knew) driving the back country roads of southern Ontario drinking. Yep, times were different back then.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Over at Olive Tree Genealogy blog is a Genealogy Writing Challenge. It's 52 weeks of writing your own memoirs. Lorine will be posting a weekly prompt each Sunday on Olive Tree Genealogy blog under the topic Sharing Memories

As to my time in Grade 1 the first thing that comes to my mind is my teacher Mrs. McMinnimey. I thought she was a Witch. No she was NOT a nasty person. I was actually really fond of her. However she always wore what I thought of as witch's boots. They had high heels and were high up her legs. She almost always dressed in black and she had very long hair. I guess at some point I figured out she was not in fact a Witch but the image still sticks in my mind almost 40 years later. Mrs. M. was really strict and she didn't tolerate a lot of shenanigans. She expected a lot from her students and would let you know when she was not pleased.

It was in Grade 1 that I started to get an interest in art. The Teachers were impressed as I was way ahead of most people my age when it came to art. However as far as the other subjects went I was no Rhodes Scholar. It was at this time that I also started to realize I didn't really like school. This stayed with me until I graduated from Grade 12. School was not my favourite thing!

I have a weird memory of the smell. The primary end of the school with K, Grade 1, 2 and 3 had dirty orange shag carpet and it smelled musty. In fact I am told that a few years later the school had to remove the carpet for health reasons. Too much mold and must in it.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Over at Olive Tree Genealogy blog is a Genealogy Writing Challenge. It's 52 weeks of writing your own memoirs. Lorine will be posting a weekly prompt each Sunday on Olive Tree Genealogy blog under the topic Sharing Memories